Englewood High School students unable to save their pool

School board votes to demolish instead of spend millions to upgrade

The determined effort by Englewood High School students to save
the swimming pool didn’t pan out because the school board voted
unanimously Feb. 13 to include it on the list of structures to go
down under the wrecking ball this summer.

The demolition is the first phase of the $42 million bond-funded
project to transform the Englewood High School site into a
state-of-the-art seventh- through 12th-grade campus.

The original proposal was to retain and upgrade the auditorium,
field house and pool. Planners included $1 million to renovate and
modernize the pool that was initially labeled as being in poor
condition.

Then, an in-depth inspection showed additional problems and
estimates are it would cost more than $3 million to have the pool
conform to Americans with Disabilities rules and bring it up to
code.

The issue was the subject of a special school board meeting Feb.
13.

“Everyone loves the pool and it isn’t the intention of the
school board to eliminate swimming teams,” said Scott Gorsky, board
president. “However, we don’t see how we can spend that much money
on a 50-year-old facility. That just isn’t fiscally
responsible.”

Scott Neff, one of the leaders of the students’ save-the-pool
movement, said he felt the pool means a lot to the community. He
said he and the other supporters were asking for a chance to raise
public awareness and come up with a financial plan to save the
pool.

“The school board may look at the pool as a money pit, but
Englewood students look at the pool as a point of school pride,”
the sophomore said.

School officials learned about the higher cost estimate to
upgrading the pool about two weeks ago and began considering
demolishing it.

It was last week when Neff and fellow swimmer Ryan Kloewer heard
about the potential pool demolition and launched the save-the-pool
effort.

In five days, they collected more than 500 signatures on a
petition. On Feb. 13, they held a rally outside the pool. About 50
students attended the rally that was recorded on video and placed
it on YouTube.

Neff asked the video be played before he addressed the school
board at the Feb. 13 meeting.

Kloewer said everyone loves the pool, and the video showed how
serious EHS students were about saving it. He said the students
feel there are ways to reduce the renovation costs so the pool can
be saved.

School Superintendent Brian Ewert addressed the issue during the
Feb. 13 meeting. He said one problem is the pool currently doesn’t
meet code and doesn’t comply with all health regulations. However,
because it has been in existence for 50 years, it is allowed to
operate. But as soon as anything other than routine maintenance is
done, the pool must then meet all codes and regulations. He also
said it cost about $75,000 a year to maintain the pool and, with
that money, he could hire two teachers.

He said the ideal situation would be to build a new pool on land
on the site of the new campus. He asked the school board to
consider setting aside the $1 million as seed money so the students
and the community will have the opportunity to raise the additional
$4 million needed to build a new pool.

One issue raised during the discussion was the lack of pool use
by Englewood students. Gorsky said the only Englewood students
using the pool are about 50 members of the boys and the girls swim
teams. He noted a private swim team does rent the pool for $40 an
hour and uses it extensively.

There was talk about trying to generate more Englewood student
use and it was noted there is a requirement to have adults
certified as life guards and swim instructors on duty for swim
classes.. Teacher Tracy Lonn said she was working on her
certification.

“If having aquatics classes so there will be more use by
Englewood students will save the pool, I’ll change my job, give up
teaching Spanish and be a physical education teacher specializing
in aquatics,” she said.

However, after the lengthy discussion, the school board voted
unanimously to include the pool on the demolition schedule and to
set aside the $1 million for as long as 24 months as seed money for
a fund to build a new pool.

Gene Turnbull, school board member, said before the vote that
his primary interest was to enrich the minds of the student in
Englewood schools.

“It is my intent to use every dime I can get my hand on to
accomplish that goal,” he said.

However, the action didn’t please Neff.

“I am discouraged that the school board didn’t consider our
ideas,” he said after the meeting. “The board never even gave us an
opportunity to explain our proposal and our plan to save the pool.
I am discouraged right now but I will continue working to try to
save our pool.”